I would like to hear from sailors who have purchased the Serenity.
What have your experiences been and what is your skill level.
Please tell me all you can .

Thank you in advance
Don

Roger

26th November 2006, 06:57 PM

Hi Don,
When there&#39;s not enough wind to plane or a wide formula board, the Serenity is just incredible.
Rig a smaller sail I&#39;ve used a 9.0 Severne Gator (seemed kinda big and didn&#39;t seem to add much to the speed); 7.8 race sail, 7.5 Severne Glide (pretty good power and handling due to it&#39;s large draft and light weight); 7.5 m2 Sailworks Retro, 6.6 Sailworks Hucker and 5.5 m2 Sailworks Retro.
In all cases the Serenity was by far the fastest board on the water until the wind got steady at around 9-10 knots.
It just glides "serenely" along.
My skill level is probably considered "advanced" but I&#39;ve had sailors with much less skill sail the Serenity and once the get balanced (takes a couple of tries for most sailors, regardless of skill level) they have no real problems sailing the Serenity upwind, reaching or broad reaching. Off the wind is a bit tricky and I&#39;m still working on that as well as jibing.
Tacking is pretty easy, but it takes a while with a board this long.
Overall, when nearly all sailors are sitting on the beach complaining, you can be out on the water having a ball on the Serenity.
It handles alot more wind than most expect. It&#39;s pretty quick in more wind as well, but won&#39;t keep up with a formula or other wide boad once they are powered up and planing, but it planes along in it&#39;s own fashion with the nose well up out of the water and the bow wave moved back almost to the mast foot.
Hope this helps,

Per

27th November 2006, 01:17 AM

Hi Roger..
Did you (or anybody) ever measure the speed by GPS?

Roger

27th November 2006, 04:17 AM

Hi Per,
No, I haven&#39;t, but it&#39;s on my list and I hope to get back to testing it
later in the week. I&#39;m on a mission until Wednesday.
I may even try to race it next weekend and see how it does in light fluky (Raleigh/Durham, NC ) winds against the formula and longboard fleet.
Hope this helps,

Roger

27th November 2006, 04:45 AM

Hi Per,
Actually, I looked and back on Nov. 10th I was sailing the Serenity with the Severne Glide 7.5 (designed to power the Serenity I believe) in a measure 4-6 knots of wind, diminishing to alomost 0 knots at the end.
Many of the individual GPS legs were in the 5-6 knot range so I&#39;m pretty sure the Serenity was going at or slightly faster than windspeed and up at least higher than 45 deg. off the true wind.
It was pretty amazing that as the wind diminished to almost zero the speeds came down, but the board was still making 0.5-2.0 knots on the legs.
Wish I had a way to "publish" the tracks to those interested.
I have it in GPS Trackmaker and Garmin Mapsource.
Interested?

Don

27th November 2006, 05:26 AM

HI Roger,
Thanks for the reply. I sailed my old Mistral competition this
P.M.. It really was quite good, (10mph and a 9.5 sail). However
my thoughts were on how a Serenity would do in these conditions.
Please let us know how you did against the longboard fleet in
your race. Please continue to give us your impressins as you sail
the board more extensively. Based on the few responsed to my
original question, there doesn&#39;t seem to be too many Serenity
sailboards out there yet. Please keep us posted.
Don

Roger

27th November 2006, 06:20 AM

Hi Don,
And.... for the time being (until at least the end of December) there won&#39;t be any additional Serenitys as the distributor has completely sold out all that arrived in the early container.
If you live in the USA or Canada, and you want a Serenity, now&#39;s the
time to get your order in through your local Starboard retailer.
Hope this helps,

John_Hibbard

28th November 2006, 07:02 PM

Hi Guys,

I am out in Dahab, Egypt at the moment and with the light winds in the late afternoon we have been having some great sessions on the Serenity. We have been using it with a 7.8 Tushingham Lightning in a range of winds from 2knts to 15 knts. I&#39;m really keen to get a GPS on it and see how quick it is in light winds.

It glides really smoothly over the water and once up on the rail it really feels smooth. Turning took a little bit of getting used to but felt very much like sailing on a long board i.e you have to move back down the board to get a good quick turn for a tack. It loves cruising across the wind and points really high.

We have had a range of sailors on it and all are addicted to it. You can check out a few pics and a story on my website www.k007.co.uk

I will report back as soon as we have some GPS speeds logged.

Cheers:)

CharlesL

30th November 2006, 07:35 AM

Hi Roger,

Well, our winds are looking particularly light and fluky for this weekend... so much so that I fear between the winds and the air temp that few people will turn out for this weekend&#39;s race. At least 2 people with long boards (one of which is an EquipeII) should show up, but not as many as we normally see. I will also not be able to make the race, as I found out recently I must work this weekend. You are still of course welcome to join our race, but I just wanted to let you know the status. I&#39;m really sorry, as I was hoping to compare the Serenity to my venerable old Superlight.

Charles

o2bnme

1st December 2006, 01:57 AM

Yeah, I think Charles is right. What he failed to mention is that he is so far ahead of everyone that he doesn&#39;t have to show up for this race. And with not many people showing up, whoever wins won&#39;t get many points. ;-)

And with the wind blowing at the coast, I have a feeling most of our local sailors who aren&#39;t working might make the trek to OBX. I&#39;m thinking about heading out with my cousin (windsurfer from Long Island). My wife was looking forward to meeting you and getting a look at the Gemini. Maybe I&#39;ll be able to convince her the drive to the coast is worth it and we&#39;ll see you in Avon!

Randy

1st December 2006, 06:50 AM

I&#39;ve got mine on order too. In the meantime, I&#39;m sailing my Mistral Competition in light wind too. BTW - I&#39;m thinking it will be a good compliment to my hypersonic. Once there&#39;s too much wind for the Serenity, I figure I can get planning on the H105.

:)

Roger

1st December 2006, 08:16 PM

Hi Guys,
I&#39;ve decided that I won&#39;t travel the 832 miles from sunny Pine Island on the west coast of Florida to Raleigh, NC when the weather forcast suggests a huge and dangerous storm system is coming through there today with a 20 deg. drop in temps for the weekend.
I&#39;ll try to find another race here in Florida.
Keep me posted on the TBC event schedule and I&#39;ll try to make your early next spring race when hopefully I won&#39;t be as far away.
Sorry to disappoint, but 160 + gallons of diesel is a significant factor here.

Garda

7th December 2006, 04:19 AM

Initial impressions;

Feels great in the light stuff. In about 5 knots, feels very quick compared to a Division 2 board/Lechner, but this is just a gut feeling.

In 10 knots, feels good upwind, like a Division 2 board, but tacks very slowly even compared to Raceboards. Opinion divided over whether it is easier or harder to sail upwind than a Div 2 board. Nice feel, I think.

Downwind; seems considerably tippier than a Division 2 board and harder to gybe. You can feel the fin trying to rise to the surface at planing speed.

Gybing is hard; you can get right back and flare it around, but like an early &#39;80s Div 2 (before they had fully-retracting centreboard) if you angle the board a degree too far, you&#39;re going to fall. And there&#39;s not much space for the feet back that far! It&#39;s nowhere near as easy to gybe as a Lechner.

Overall feel; much more like an early &#39;80s (TC Win, Mistral M1 early version) Div 2 board, from the era before centreboards were fully retracting.

It&#39;s great to see manufacturers chasing light wind performance. This could be a really great board for many people. Would still prefer a fully-retracting centreboard version as the Serenity is less versatile than a Division 2 board.

hugh_denholm

9th December 2006, 06:02 PM

Mine arrived this afternoon. Planing on a Freeformula early on, then onto a Carve 133 when the wind picked up. By the time the Serenity had arrived the wind had dropped a little, maybe 8-10 knots out in the bay.
On the way out to the wind (with an 8 metre Gator sail), she sliced through the water beautifully and felt fast for the conditions. Once we hit the wind, she rose up out of the water and was very sprightly. Caught me out once when she railed up on the windward side too far and threw me off.
Tacking was OK but slow, have not tried to gybe yet.
A very different experience, great fun and quite challenging. I am sure it will be ideal for the many many days that we get where is is almost. but not quite strong enough, to plane on a conventional board.
Oh, and the word version looks absolutely gorgeous!

John_Hibbard

11th December 2006, 06:58 PM

Hi Guys,

I&#39;ve added some more shots of the Serenity to my website. www.k007.co.uk - click on the gallery link on the menu bar and then scroll down the gallery page to find the link for Serenity.

I&#39;ve sailed the board quite a bit now and its a different experience to anything else on the market. A mix between the old Div II and racboard days with a hint of something special.

Hugh, to speed up the tacks try getting back down the board behind the fin and crank the sail in and rail the board into the wind. It flys up and through the wind, you just have to be quick on your feet to make it around the front in time.

Cheers
John

hugh_denholm

14th December 2006, 12:37 PM

Thanks John
Sadly "light on his feet" is not a description that has been applied to me; but it is great that the Serenity offers some challenges and feels so alive.

Took some shots in the club:
http://www.pbase.com/hughden/serenity

Does anyone know what the two screw inserts on the back of the board are for? My personal plan is to make a camera mounting bracket and take some video; but presumably Starboard had something else in mind in the design.

John_Hibbard

15th December 2006, 04:56 PM

My guess: Fishing Rod holder!!

Nice shots, looks a fair bit warmer where you are than here, although the wind has been really good here in the UK, far too much for the Serentity though!;)

Randy

15th December 2006, 06:38 PM

How about an attachment point for something to help you tie it down to your car?

clarkr2

16th December 2006, 04:31 AM

Hello all;

I&#39;m presuming that all of the reviews so far are of the wood model of the Serenity.
How about the Sport Tech version re:
- weight/stiffness ratio
- acceleration

Are there any videos available of the Serenity being sailed?
I did a Google search today to no avail.

Roger

16th December 2006, 06:43 AM

Hi Clark,
Not sure there are any videos of the Serenity yet.
I know that a few boards have been sold in the USA that are
Sport Tech.
I have the wood, and the guys in Dahab had the wood.
I was out the other day at Sanibel Causeway in almost zero wind, and
the Serenity continues to amaze me.
8.5 Sailworks NX slm on the Serenity Wood and I was cruising around.
Found a new "aspect" of sailing the Serenity in supr light conditions.
Never really found the current around the first spoil island to be a problem in more wind, but in < 4 knots, the current can become a huge factor very quickly. ;)
When the current is almost as strong as the windspeed, it get&#39;s real interesting.
Hope this helps,

Guest

5th January 2007, 12:25 AM

Hi everyone,
I&#39;d be pretty interested in seeing GPS track files (be it gpx or MapSource format) as Roger was proposing earlier in this thread.
Just out of curiosity to compare with m Hybrid-formula one-year experience.
Who knows if it&#39;s really faster, it might overcome the storing / bringing to sea-shore hassle of a 4.55 board in my situtation...
Many thanks in advance

Guest

6th January 2007, 02:50 PM

Hi guys,
Sailed the serenity a couple of times now on Queen Mary Reservoir in the UK in 0-5knots and 4-10knots with an rs10.7m
(probably too big but was sailing formula earlier).
Impressions:
a) beautiful board. Doesn&#39;t look so big when you are on the water.
b) really fast. Surprisingly fast in glassy 1 knot conditions with zero sound. I have no doubt this is the fastest board in the light.
c) The serenity planes in a strange way in more wind and surprisingly quickly. It is very responsive to board angle.
d) I was racing some rs700 dingy&#39;s on the stronger day and upwind was pointing about the same and doing about the same speed. Serenity rails really well and is very responsive. In the stronger breeze the fin provides so much lift that at one point i completely rolled the board upside down! Easily compensated by flattening off the board.
e) Tacking can be quick if you rail upwind past head to wind and are agressive leaning the board to windward when bearing away. Downwind speed compared to the boats was more difficult to measure as the boats sailed much deeper. In the lighter winds the boats were quicker but when the serenity planed, it was quicker.
f) Gybing remains difficult. I find that as long as the sail pivots about itself so that the weight is always neutral gybing is ok. The main problem i had was that my footwork was rolling the board in the oposite direction thereby counteracting my turn. I think we just need to be very careful about stepping on the centreline.

This board was fantastic fun in conditions i would normally have packed up and gone home. I could see myself having summer cruising sessions or racing on it. Shame there aren&#39;t more of these about.

Rich

Arno13

7th January 2007, 04:09 PM

Thanks Rich for sharing your experience.
How much do you weigh ? (as I understand from SB themselves that the heavier the rider, the more challenging the ride...)
Did you ever feel the lack of an adjustable mast track ? Or a retractable dagger ?
Do you think that flattening the board in 10 kts was still close the upper limit of the board ?
If you own the board, it would be great if you could provide us with some gps tracks with mention of the wind, just to get an idea.
Cheers mate

Arno13

7th January 2007, 04:23 PM

One more thing too Rich if you please.
I know the intended range of the Serenity (2-9 kts) but I&#39;m interested in how it handles more wind, as when you go far from your launch point, you can have to make it back even if the wind kicks up for a while (summer sea breeze, maxing out at 15 kts).
If you have any experience ;)

hugh_denholm

7th January 2007, 09:01 PM

I estimate the highest wind I have sailed in was around 12-15 knots with an 8 metre Gator. I am 78 kilos. It was an exciting ride; caused mainly by the chop and waves which kept trying to push the board off course; but it was certainly manageable.
Most fun is the 5-8 knot range when others are struggling to get planing and you go whizzing by!
I have made a camera mount to utilise the screw holes at the back of the board (I think they are intended for mounting wheels) and am capturing video with the camera pointing forward and backward (going to get another Serenity to sail behind me to capture some close-up sailing shots.
Also getting shots from a helmet mounted camera and from just hanging around in the water while a Serenity goes by.
Plan is to put together a short Serenity sailing movie which I will make available for download once it is complete.

Arno13

8th January 2007, 01:57 AM

hugh_denholm
Most fun is the 5-8 knot range when others are struggling to get planing and you go whizzing by!

Below 5 kts, is it less likeable because the wind changes direction constantly, is very fluky or rather because the board is slow. Or a combination of the two ?
Do you have any idea of the minimum wind speed in which you can get going ?

hugh_denholm
I have made a camera mount to utilise the screw holes at the back of the board (I think they are intended for mounting wheels) and am capturing video with the camera pointing forward and backward (going to get another Serenity to sail behind me to capture some close-up sailing shots.
Also getting shots from a helmet mounted camera and from just hanging around in the water while a Serenity goes by.
Plan is to put together a short Serenity sailing movie which I will make available for download once it is complete.

That would be just great ! Please let us know if you get it done.
As for the two inserts, I guess they might too be used for fishing with a leash (dunno the English equivalent)...

Many thanks !

Arnaud

hugh_denholm

8th January 2007, 08:35 PM

Hi Arnaud
Around 5 kts the fin creates lift, the nose lifts and she (unlike my other boards, the Serenity justifies a "she"!) starts flying along. Below 5 kts she cuts through the water very smoothly and quietly, a serene experience! Unlike a "normal" board in light winds, the Serenity accelerates very quickly from rest; hard to describe the experience unless you try one. If you can feel a breath of wind, she will go!
For me, the speed is irrelevant, the Serenity is just a load of fun from 1 knot upwards and will keep me sane during our many non-planing days.

The movie will be completed at some point in the future. Right now we are in the middle of the north east monsoon in Thailand, which is not normally Serenity weather. Today I was out on my Carve 111 and a newly acquired 2007 model 6.0 Gator; lovely sail. But when the wind dropped at the end of the day I got some nice sunset sailing shots of a friend on a Serenity.

I like your fishing line idea...!

Guest

9th January 2007, 04:30 AM

In response to Arno13 questions:
-I weigh 80kg and i was sailing the wood version.
-I&#39;ve never sailed with an adjustable mast track so i can&#39;t comment.
-In stronger winds (say above 10knots) you definitely have a lot of lift from the fin. i suspect that a retractable dagger board would be less efficient in the light winds the board is really designed for. Also, if you retract the dagger board, the serenity would have no fin whatsoever! On balance i think it&#39;s best the way it is. It has a pretty good wind range as it is.
-It could probably handle 15knots but it would be a handful as there are no footstraps. I have no idea what it would be like in any sort of waves though. I have only tried it on a reservoir.
-I don&#39;t have a gps so can&#39;t help there.

This board is a lot of fun in conditions you don&#39;t normally have fun in.

Rich

Arno13

9th January 2007, 04:32 AM

Hi Hugh

hugh_denholm
Around 5 kts the fin creates lift, the nose lifts and she (unlike my other boards, the Serenity justifies a "she"!) starts flying along.

I saw some pics and it seems very noticeable, reminding me of typical fast kayak behavior.
I do like the "she" point you make ;)

hugh_denholm
Unlike a "normal" board in light winds, the Serenity accelerates very quickly from rest; hard to describe the experience unless you try one. If you can feel a breath of wind, she will go!
For me, the speed is irrelevant, the Serenity is just a load of fun from 1 knot upwards and will keep me sane during our many non-planing days.

Sounds gooooood to me as below-formula-planing-treshold days keep coming in handy were I live ! (as everywhere I guess...)

hugh_denholm
I like your fishing line idea...!
I do that routinely on my sea kayak and often catch surface fish (do put some lead at the end of the line because even moving at only 3 or 4 knots, the line trails behind not far from the surface (less deep than you might think). Flashy and limp lures will work best. Attaching the line close at hand is important to hook in the fish and getting it out of the water.

By the way, it all makes me think about one more thing : is the board stable enough to be paddled sitting kayak-style ? (just in case wind would die completely).

Many thanks again for your help.

Arno13

9th January 2007, 04:36 AM

Rich ! Thanks for your helpful answer, I guess we were typing just at the same time !
The two of you are gonna make me a convert soon B)

Roger

9th January 2007, 06:58 AM

Hi Rich,
If you are only using the 70 cm fin that is supplied with the Serenity, you might want to try some smaller fins.
I&#39;ve used a 58 cm race blade and 32-44 cm weed fins on the Serenity and have found that smaller fins actually can make your transitions easier and can help with the balance of the board.
Might not give you that last degree or so upwind, but the Serenity still goes upwind extremely well with a 32 cm Lessacher Duo Weed fin.
Where I&#39;ve most noticed the smaller fins making things easier in transitions is when you rail the board to go upwind, it does not "grab" quite as hard, so the transition from flat to railed is quite a bit more gentle. This helps alot with jibing as entering the jibe you need to step back on the board and go from slightly lee rail down, back to flat on the water, and then to railed quite a bit the other way to get the board to kinda carve out of the jibe, but it&#39;s when the board goes from flat to more railed that the big fin "bites" all at once and you find yourself in the water beside the board.
With smaller fins, there&#39;s not such an immediate and strong "bite" so it&#39;s far easier to control the roll attitude of the board.
Hope this helps,

steveC

9th January 2007, 11:20 AM

Hi Roger,

What you&#39;ve identified is very interesting, as it corresponds more realistically in my venue, especially thinking in terms of weedfins. I&#39;m thinking that the Serenity is truly gaining more viability in my mind. Never seen one in my locale, but I&#39;m really hoping for some opportunity to see one out on the water. Interest starts in curious, and sometimes enduring ways.

One thing that helps greatly in the concept is its ability to use smaller sails in the 7.5-8.5 range. That means that a mast in the 490cm range is enough. That&#39;s really great news in my mind.

Roger

9th January 2007, 02:05 PM

Hi steveC,
Think of even smaller sails!
I&#39;m sure there is some small difference in top speed and the min. windspeed you can get going in, but in my experience the Serenity goes along quite well with powerful small sails.
I&#39;ve used the 5.6 and 6.6 m2 Sailworks Huckers and been moving along nicely in < 6 knots of wind.
The Serenity powers up almost effortlessly, even with smaller rigs.
I&#39;d expect a good powerful 7.5 m2 rig would be more than enough unless you feel the need for speed or want the last tiny bit of top speed or upwind angle (niether of which I&#39;ve found to be worth going after on the Serenity because it just glides along so nicely with smaller rigs, and the speed and upwind angle is plenty good for "cruizin".
Hope this helps,

Guest

9th January 2007, 07:33 PM

The Serenity shape being a pure displacement one, I think it accounts for the fact you mention.
As there never is the need to ride over the bow wave, which requires a great supplement of force, it can get away with less sail area. A parallel can be drawn with displacement hul boats that require much less horsepower, because they&#39;re intended to never go on a plane.
What I find interesting in my mind is that going far away with a relatively small sail and yet going at a good pace is quite secure and may allow one to go on long coastal rides, provided a sudden surge of the wind is not much of problem (being taken by 20-25 kts on a formula with 11,8 or 9,9 sail is not much fun from my experience, as I&#39;m not a fuly-fledged racer).
Applying the well-known formula for theoretical maximum hull speed, it gives the Serenity around 10 km/h, which is not much in itself but may prove interesting, combined with excellent upwind ability, for touring in light weather.
Cheers everyone
Arno13

puffin

9th January 2007, 07:57 PM

Hi Roger,

Will you (or anyone) be doing any demos of the Serenity this Spring on the east coast (OBX or futher north?) I&#39;m still enjoying my ancient superlight (broke the springloaded fin, though) but am considering an upgrade.

-Michael

hugh_denholm

9th January 2007, 08:52 PM

Arnaud
"By the way, it all makes me think about one more thing : is the board stable enough to be paddled sitting kayak-style ? (just in case wind would die completely)."

Funny you should ask..! After we did our sunset sailing photo session last night, my friend took a paddle and paddled around on the Serenity standing up; he said it was good balance practice!

I took a very blurred and crappy photo:
http://www.pbase.com/hughden/image/72844633

Guest

10th January 2007, 05:49 AM

Mine should be in pretty soon. I&#39;ve been wondering if those of you sailing the Serenity miss the footstraps? I realize your not sailing as quicly as a shortboard, but I use the straps while railing my longboard, so I wonder if you miss the straps or not.

Ian Fox

10th January 2007, 09:52 AM

...not nearly as much as you expect, in my (very strap oriented) experience...

B)

Roger

10th January 2007, 10:33 AM

Hi Guest,
I agree with Ian on this.
I&#39;m also a very "footstrap oriented" sailor, so the Serenity reminds me quite a bit of sailing my old original Mistral Superlite (sort of a Div. II bottom on that board) but the Serenity is significantly narrower so just changing the position of your feet relative to the centerline slightly allows you to rail the board easily without any footstraps.
Again, the big 70 cm fin might at some point be easier to manage with footstraps, but simply changing down to a smaller fin easily corrects for this.
For Michael,
Yes, I will have the Serenity Wood that I have available when I&#39;m in Hatteras, and at the Frisco Woods Windfest, plus other events that are to be determined. Probably Annapolis, Lakes Bay, and some others.
You might work with your local shop/clubs to get some sort of Starboard/Sailworks demo event on Long Island.
Hope this helps,

Tiesda You

11th January 2007, 04:48 PM

Hi everyone,

Well this is certainly an interesting thread.

The inserts in the tail are for the clipperwheel system. Never thought someone would use the inserts for a camera mount. Nice one Hugh.

One of the key principles behind the design was simplicity which is why I went for a daggerboardless design. No daggerboard and no tail fin means that there was also no need for an adjustable mast track: just get on and go. The performance is there for those who wish to tap into it but the simplicity of Serenity is intended to make lightwind sailing appeal to as many people as possible. Adjustable mast tracks and daggerboards can be quite a turn off for many windsurfers.

The other benefit is of course the weight. With no daggerboard case or adjustable mast track the hull can be built pretty light. Light doesn&#39;t only mean more performance but it also makes the whole idea of Serenity windsurfing more appealing and accessible.

Like many boards, the wind range of the board can be expanded with fins of different size. We went for the super-powerful 70cm to make lightwind windsurfing as exciting, challenging and rewarding as possible and there&#39;s no doubt that one of the early reactions to the board will be based on its racing performance compared to Div II boards. So the 70 fin was chosen for its performance.

We also tried fitting footstraps on the board but in the end we went for the strapless option. Within its main wind range the sailor is actually moving around quite alot. The straps, wherever we placed them, tended to be in the wrong place 80% of the time -having your foot strapped in was actually more of a hindrance than a help.

Hope this extra info is of help.

Tiesda

Randy

11th January 2007, 09:12 PM

Helps a lot. Now if my board would just arrive!:)

hugh_denholm

13th January 2007, 06:27 PM

For what it is worth (probably not a lot), I took my newly acquired GPS onto the water today with my Serenity and a 8.0 Gator
I don&#39;t have a windspeed reading, but only a couple of very light sailors on very big boards and sails managed to plane; and then only briefly. The Korean national team were out on the water with small sailors, monster rigs and racing boards and they were just floating about.
Anyway, Serenity was averaging 6 knots with a max speed of 12.4 knots, achieved in a gust with the help of pushing it down a swell at the same time.
Of course the most important point was that I had 90 minutes of fun and involving sailing while everyone floated around or sat on the beach!I think she will exceed 15 knots easily in more windy conditions.

Arno13

14th January 2007, 03:25 PM

Great news Hugh.
Could you please mail me the track file ? (beaudhuin@yahoo.com)
Is it a Foretrex 201 that you purchased ? It gave another dimension to my sessions. One the best purchases I ever made , and I use it for many things now (biking, kayaking, retrieving my fallen sunglasses in the middle of the lake 2 days later !!)
Thanks in advance

hugh_denholm

14th January 2007, 06:03 PM

Arnaud
Would love to send you the track file; but I bought a Geko 201 which has a PC interface; but is not supplied with an interface cable. The shop did not have a cable so there is one on the way from the USA. Then I can send you some tracks.
Went out today in much higher winds and it was doing over ten knots a few metres from the beach; then a gust and a wave caught me before I was settled in; and I went over the front and punched a big hole in the deck with the boom....<sob>
This is the second accident, first was caused by some underwater debris which stopped the board dead and I was over the front and into the deck with the boom. Sadly I think I will need to put a protector in the boom impact area on the deck. Will spoil the lines but the wood board is not strong enough to withstand a catapult.
I have put a posting on the "ask the team" forum asking for advice on how to stick on the protector.
Very sad to see my lovely wood board damaged; but that&#39;s windsurfing....:(

Randy

14th January 2007, 09:36 PM

I got a "Jez Knob" a few years ago for my wood Hypersonic, and it works well, and doesn&#39;t take up a lot of space. I&#39;m glad you mentioned your problem, since I hadn&#39;t thought about getting catapulted. I seldom get catapulted on my H105, so I think I&#39;ll move the knob over to my Serenity.

http://www.2ndwind.com.au/products-new/jezknob.asp

Arno13

15th January 2007, 01:44 AM

Hugh
I guess many of us know what you feel in days like that. But soon the initial disappointment will fade away and you won&#39;t even notice the little repairs on the deck (wood can be repaired almost perfectly now). First-hand experience with my wood HS111 and F147 boards. What remains is the big grin each time you ride a good board !

As for the GPS unit : if it is the same for the Geko as with the Foretrex, you&#39;ll need some software to download the tracks from the GPS, as well as sending waypoints (defining them on the computer is easier) to the GPS (mainly but you can also set up routes etc...)
The following might prove useful for you too :
- GSP Action Replay : http://gpsactionreplay.free.fr/ : easier to use than to install (you need a n up-to-date Java version, links are provided) ; gives you many many useful analysis tools (speed, VMG). From the 3d version, you can use it to download your tracks and it&#39;s easier to use underlaying maps (pretty cool). Google earth snapshots of your spot are a must-have, quite easy to calibrate and the result is really worth the little effort.
- G7ToWin (http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/g7towin.htm) : straightforward, neat and useful freeware (as GPS AR) to convert some file types, merge different tracks into one rapidly, and more.
- Garmin MapSource + charts series : quite costly but a reference for info accuracy.
If find the GPX format is the most handy to deal with.
If you&#39;re interested with speed, set the unit to recording a point every 2 seconds. If you prefer "cleaner" tracks (you&#39;ll soon find out), use for instance a 15 meter recording interval, which with a 10.000 points memory gives you ample storage (but in the kind of weather we&#39;re talking about, 5 or 6 hours sessions do occur).
Thanks again for sharing your experience !
Cheers
Arnaud

hugh_denholm

15th January 2007, 05:17 PM

Randy
Great idea! I had forgotten about this product, might just be what I need to save further repairs; have mailed the supplier.
I find myself sailing more upright than I would on a planing board, and with no footstraps to keep me in place, I think I am more likely to catapult than with a "normal" board. And of course if the fin hits something solid then then the boom head has a good chance of kissing the deck!

Arnaud
Thanks for all the links, will look into them. I like the idea of matching my tracks onto Google Earth; we have quite a hi-res map of the area where I live and sail, and I look forward to keeping a record of my Serenity expeditions.
Spent today with carbon and expoxy and sandpaper; tomorrow should be able to start some painting. It&#39;s therapeutic!

moreforce4

20th January 2007, 10:20 AM

You can also load your tracks directly onto Google Earth, without doing screen caps and georeferencing them in another program. Its the &#39;pro&#39; version or something, and only $20 for the year. A nice option, though gpsaction, and the software through the GPS Speedsailing site would give you more info.

It might be interesting to see a Serenity or perhaps an open class for less than 10 knots of wind on GPSSpeedsailing - see who could get the fastest one hour average etc.

I&#39;ve just bought a Kona (didn&#39;t think I could afford a Serenity, and wanted a board to teach newbies as well), but I&#39;m following the Serentiy with interest. Love to try one out sometime! Sounds like I&#39;ll have to wait for a demo or go somewhere with rentals, because by the sound of it, I wouldn&#39;t lend mine to be catapualted through!

I am pleasantly surprised that it (she?) actually made it to production! There were some doubters I recall.....

hugh_denholm

29th January 2007, 10:40 AM

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Serenity is now repaired, Jez&#39;s knob is now installed and doing a great job at smashing my toes when I tack (need a Jez&#39;s knob protector!), and have my GPS working fine with GPS Action Replay.
Winds have been messy and offshore the last few days so not sure I have any meaningful GPS tracks to share, but with the standard fin and a reasonably powered up 8 metre sail, she cruises along at around 8-11 knots very comfortably. peak speed in comfortable conditions has been 12.7 knots.
Yesterday was quite windy once you got away from the wind shadow and people were coming back reporting being over-powered on 7 metre sails. It was very choppy too. Not a Serenity day I was advised! However, as someone has bet me $50 I can&#39;t get it to do more than 15 knots, I put on the small fin and a 7 metre Gator and ventured out.
It is much easier to sail with the smaller fin and it felt very comfortable in the chop; but I could feel that the board did not want to go any faster. The peak on the GPS was 13.1. I took her back and swapped for a Carve 133 with the same sail was doing 23 knots. I was impressed with how easy the Serenity was to sail in conditions that it was not intended for.
My conclusion so far is that she does not need much power to get up to a comfortable cruising speed of around 10 knots. Throwing more power at the board is not going to get you going much faster; not that speed was the design intention anyway.

Guest

2nd February 2007, 09:18 PM

Hi Hugh

Your remarks describe exactly what a true displacement hull is all about.
Can you give us some more figures on the other side of the wind spectrum ? In very little wind (how much), how fast can you go, can you still point upwind ?
Thanks for sharing.

Arno13

hugh_denholm

5th February 2007, 10:24 AM

Hi Arnaud
The wind range does not seem to change much with sail size or wind strength. In lighter wind the Serenity cruises along at around 5-8 knots. The best feeling is when the board is just starting to rail up on the big fin, the nose lifts, and you are skimming silently through the water at around 8-10 knots.
With out current wind direction I cannot get a windspeed reading on the land, so cannot give exact windspeeds; but I would guess that the Serenity is moving nicely through the water and can be pushed upwind from around 3 knots.
I did compare sailing tracks for both the large and small fin. Not surprisingly the big fin was going better upwind; but not by much.
Looks like our North East Monsoon is coming to an end so the winds will be lighter over the coming weeks. Will do some more runs and let you know how it goes.
Hugh

o2bnme

6th February 2007, 01:40 AM

I&#39;d be curious to see a video of someone tacking a Serenity. It has been described as a more drawn out process than people are familiar with.

If I could justify the budget, I would love to get a Serenity for summer sailing. But then I&#39;d have to get two because my father would want to go sailing with me.

hugh_denholm

7th February 2007, 10:15 PM

I have loaded a brief video of the Serenity being tacked and gybed; a whole lot more elegantly than I can manage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_NWaI-9u8M

hugh_denholm

7th February 2007, 10:32 PM

And here is another showing Serenity sailing in low winds from both a head view and from a camera mounted on the back of the board:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLwmRDIQF6k

Guest

14th February 2007, 02:31 AM

Wow ! Looks cool, with some good speed for the conditions !
Pretty neat video, thanks a lot for sharing, can wait to give it a try myself !
Cheers
Arno13

hugh_denholm

14th February 2007, 12:12 PM

Just want to record a thank you to Tiesda You for arranging a pot of paint to match the red/brown stripe on the side of my board; one more step towards making the damage repair invisible!
Now the wind direction is shifting back to south west here in Thailand, we are getting choppy seas and big swells; and the Serenity loves it. There is a constant sense of impending doom as she heads into some substantial waves but she just cuts through them. This is a board where you can have fun not just on the calm, light wind days.
Best recorded speed is now 16.5 knots with the smaller supplied fin. I tried a 390 fin from a Carve too; was fast but the board showed little interest in changing direction!

clarkr2

15th February 2007, 04:18 AM

Hugh;

Loved the videos of the Serenity which you posted recently.
Had been searching the internet for something like this for some months now.

Re the "15-10-7-4 knots" video:
Weight of sailor?
Length of fin?
Size of sail?
Music ..name of piece and band?

Clark,
Montr??al

hugh_denholm

15th February 2007, 12:24 PM

Hi Clark, glad you like the little video! Answers to your questions:
79 kilos
The 70 cm fin supplied with the board.
8.5; although I usually use an 8.0 cos it has a 100% carbon mast and is nice and light to handle.
Music is "Wolf like me" from "Return to Cookie mountain", the latest album by a band called TV on the Radio. Shame the video isn&#39;t longer so I could play the complete track!

clarkr2

18th February 2007, 01:22 AM

Hugh;

Thanks for the info on board and music.

I&#39;ve a North Strike 9.5 and a deep draft, low-wind, North R-type 7.5.
Hopefully, the 7.5, rigged full, will do the trick on the Serenity in 4-5 knots, as I find that size is just more convenient and fun than a 9.5. The fact that I&#39;m 6 foot 1 inch tall and weigh only 150 will help in that respect, I think.

Next step for me, this spring and summer, is to find an on-the-beach wind-surfing centre in the U.S. or Canadian north-east (Cape Cod for example) where I might test-drive the Serenity. If anybody has info on this, kindly let me know.

Clark, Montreal

o2bnme

18th February 2007, 02:10 AM

Come on down to Hatteras! Roger will be at Windfest in April. It is only a &#39;few&#39; more hours for you. ;-) Ok, so it is more than a few. ;-)

clarkr2

20th February 2007, 04:27 AM

Hugh;

At 4 knots, did the sailor (you Hugh?) find a harness advantageous for squeezing out a bit more speed from the Serenity?

When I arrived the water was glassy, and I almot decided to go home. But a minor gust arrived, and stayed. Starting out, I&#39;d say it was only Force 1. In these winds the board is still pretty quick and moves very nicely upwind. Tacking was not hard. My board speed estimate 3-5 mph.

As the wind picked up to Force 2, the board really came to life and the speed picked up. I&#39;d estimate the board speed to be 5-10 mph. Blew my first jibe, but after that I was completing them (though not with ease.) In these winds she is quite fun and I did need a harness for sure. Since the wind was very fluky, I was hooking and unhooking a lot, and moving around on the board a fair amount.

After a while the wind picked up to Force 3 and she becomes really quick 10 mph+ for sure, and I was in for a wild ride. :o At this point, I started thinking about how bad I&#39;d feel if I trashed my new board on the first day. But I did hold on, headed back down wind and got into lighter winds. (Where I sail the winds are stronger as you get farther from shore.) Were it not for the cold water, I&#39;d probably have been a lot more aggressive, but I&#39;m taking my time with this.

I don&#39;t find the Serenity that hard to turn, particularly tacking, though it works better if you use a good "shortboard" style tack, instead of my usual sloppy longboard tacks. Jibing is harder, but I think once I get used to it, it won&#39;t be too hard. Chop doesn&#39;t seem to bother her much (kindly provided by a few motor boats, since the wind wasn&#39;t strong enough to produce it.)

I sailed her on all points of sail. She wants to sail upwind, but seems to sail quicker on a beam reach. She takes a little coaxing to go on a broad reach, but from a broad reach can be turned onto a run. This is definitely a little trickier, but not that hard (or I&#39;d have gotten pretty wet.)

The small fin probably does make it a lot more turny. I&#39;ve sailed my old longboard w/o any tail fin using the CB alone, and you can feel some instability. I noticed the same thing when I&#39;d get hit by a gust, though I think with practice, it won&#39;t be very noticable. I can only imagine how the big fin will affect speed and performace. I don&#39;t think I really needed the big (7.4) sail. A 6.0 would probably have been fine, esp. in the stronger winds.

I didn&#39;t use a GPS, but Its pretty easy to get rough idea of your speed. I simply count how many seconds it takes to move one board length. (I usually try to line up with a leaf or something floating on the water.) Owing to its length (4.5m) if she moves one board length in a second, thats 10 mph. Naturally, counting seconds isn&#39;t that precise. One board length in 2 seconds is 5 mph (and close to "hull speed"). All in all it was a great day that would have been really lame on any other board! :D

hugh_denholm

21st February 2007, 01:06 PM

Clark
I am a lazy sailor so use the harness whenever possible! Not sure that the harness makes any speed difference at 4 knots; but it does allow me to stay out on the water longer!

Randy

27th February 2007, 02:03 AM

Got another chance to sail Serenity this weekend. :) I tried to get my GPS to work, but w/o success. However, I did several timed runs between two points (an island and the shore) known to be .66 miles apart. I generally did the runs in about 4 minutes, or about 10 mph. Wind was probably 6-8 mph, sail was 7.4. I used a 36 cm weed fin, mostly just to see what it would do. I took my H105 out briefly, and it was not even close to planning, so the wind was pretty light. This approach seems pretty conservative to me, since the top speed in a single run was probably higher than the average, and I had to accelarate and/or decelerate when I got to shore.

Don

1st March 2007, 06:22 AM

HI Randy,
I sailed the serenity in Sarasota on Sat. Roger is the best kept secret in windsurfing. I don&#39;t know what his arrangement is with Sailworks
sails or Starboard but he is the best industry rep around. I really
thank you Roger.
I was fortunate to have the Serenity to myself for about two hours.
I am not an accomplished sailor. I would probably be considered a
good intermediate. I am not an expert.
I never fell on a tack at any time. The board does come around
slowly but not terribly so. On a beam reach the board feels very stable. I did not feel uncomfortable at all. When the wind was on and
off like a switch you do notice the lack of width in adjusting for the gusts more than on a wider board. In a complete lull you are more
unsteady than on a wider board. Still the board was stable enough that I did not fall off. I found little or no evidence that a heavier
sailor would have more trouble. I weigh 230 lbs. Not exactly a light
weight. I, also to my surprise, thought I would miss the foot straps.
Not a problem, the deck pad is very non-slip. The winds were
between 0 and about 12 mph. For the most part I would estimate
the winds at 8 to 10mph. The Sail was a Sailworks 6.6 and the
fin was a 36cm weed fin.
The most difficult sailing is off the wind, a broad reach or
straight down-wind. I did fall off attempting this. I beleive with
practice that I could learn to sail downwind. Uphauling is not
a problem at all. No more difficult than on my Mistral Competition.
It is much faster in light wind than my competition as I came
back to the launch and then immedeately went out on my
competition. I felt like I was standing still. The Serenity was
so much more fun in the light winds that I quit sailing for the
day rather than stay out on the competition. i think the board
is much eaiser to sail than what I had been hearing on the
internet.. Any questions , let me know
Don

Guest

1st March 2007, 07:12 AM

Hi Don,and all you other sailors interested in the Serenity,
Just to set the record straight, the sail Don was on was the &#39;07 Sailworks Hucker rigged on a 460 Sailworks LightStick mast with an HPL slalom carbon boom.
The fin Don used was a Tangent Dynamics Reaper 46 cm weed fin.
I&#39;m really glad he had a good time on the Serenity, and it was wonderful to finally meet him and get him out on the Serenity.
Thanks for your kind comments,
Roger

Randy

1st March 2007, 06:44 PM

Roger,

Was the use of the Hucker based on mere convenience, or is there a reason to prefer that type of sail with Serenity?

Roger

2nd March 2007, 06:33 AM

Hi Randy,
I&#39;ve sailed the Serenity with up to a 9.0 m2 Severne Gator, but I find that sails larger than 7.5 (a Retro) really didn&#39;t give me much more speed or angle, but they were alot harder to balance and uphaul.
Since I find the new &#39;07 6.6 m2 Hucker with 6 battens to have very nearly the same low end power as my 7.5 Retro I chose the 6.6 Hucker for Don&#39;s test drive based on the most power in the smallest package.
It was also somewhat for convenience as I had both the &#39;06 7 batten 6.6 m2 Hucker and the &#39;07 6 batten 6.6 m2 Huckers rigged so the demo sailors could see the difference between a 6.6 Hucker rigged on a 460 Sailworks Backbone RDM (the 7 battten late &#39;06 model) and a 6.6 &#39;07 Hucker (6 batten) rigged on a Sailworks 460 Lightstick SDM.
So, getting the most power in the smallest package is a very good thing when sailing the Serenity. Bigger sails don&#39;t seem to be needed!
Hope this helps,

Randy

13th March 2007, 12:04 AM

More impressions.

I&#39;ve now sailed Serenity in 9 sessions, with sails from 6.0 to 7.4, and with both the big and small fin, as well as a very small weed fin.

First, the biggest concern I had was that she would be too limited to light winds - being too much of a handful in the normal 5-15 mph days that are frequently the type in which I sailed my longboard. But, such days are no problem. While I wouldn&#39;t sail Serenity in a solid 15 mph wind, a gust of 15 in a light day is no problem at all, and lots of fun. She does seem to "top out" on speed, though I am learning to move my weight further back to increase speed when planing. Fin and sail size might address this (perhaps making one or both smaller once topped out might actually increase speed.)

Second, the big fin really makes a big difference in lightwind sailing, though if you are maxed out (10 kt or more) the smaller fin might be quicker. Serenity responds a lot to fin changes. Makes me think it might make more sense to change fins than sails if the wind changes. It will be interesting to try other types of fins.

Third, part of the fun of this board is that I feel like I am learning to windsurf all over again. Not that it is that much different at all, but I have to be much more precise in foot movements, sail sterring etc. It makes very nice light wind jibes since it carries speed well, though you can easily upset your trim by bad foot movements. Sailing downwind is not that hard, but it takes some care. It makes sailing a lot more challenging than a conventional longboard. I notice my right hand/left hand issues much more, and realize how "handed" I am. I think Serenity may actually help me improve my shortboard sailing since it needs more precision and balance.

The added length is not really much of an issue on the water -compared to a conventional longboard the length, turning radius, etc is just not a big deal. It weighs a lot less than my old longboard, so its easier to get on top of my car.

I do miss the footstaps some, though it probably would be hard to figure our exactly where they should go. For a long time I could never get into the straps on my old race longboard, and I got pretty good at sailing w/o them. (Brings back memories for sure!)

I don&#39;t know how helpful an adjustable centerboard/track would be. In reviewing my old longboard sources, it is normally recommended to maintain a full down CB in winds less than Force 3 along with a forward track anyway. If there is a Serenity II, perhaps a (paritally) retactible daggerboard would be the way to go.

Tiesda You

17th March 2007, 02:08 PM

Hi everyone,

We&#39;ve recently added a mini Serenity video clip on the Serenity product page (http://www.star-board.com/viewpage.php?page_id=37). It&#39;s a pretty small clip and we didn&#39;t always have the best lighting conditions but I think it&#39;s pretty good at showing how nicely the Serenity glides and picks up speed in very lightwinds.

In the video the wind didn&#39;t exceed 5 or 6 knots yet we had lots of fun gliding along and racing each other. Hope you&#39;ll check it out.

Cheers,

Tiesda

steveC

18th March 2007, 03:35 AM

Hi Tiesda,

The video was quite interesting and readily showed many of the great performance attributes associated with the design. One of the views that I really liked were the elevated shots where in the clear water you could really see the sailors relationship to the fin. The balance was very nice, and could better grasp why it works so well in light wind.

Randy

20th March 2007, 06:48 AM

Did my first railride, almost like the video. (Well actually, he did his on purpose, mine just sort of happened when I got overrailed.) Does seem like this will be an easy board for railriding!

Roger

20th March 2007, 11:00 AM

Hi Randy,
We had some "wild and wooly" sailing on the Serenity on Sat. in Panama City.
Wind was 20 knots + and I took the Serenity out with a 4.2 m2 Sailworks Hucker and a 38 cm True Ames Shallow Water fin.
Amazing.....just amazing.
The bow wave moved all the way back to slightly behind the mast foot, and the Serenity was just ripping along.
Got it going so fast that the short wide fin was beginning to get hard to control the roll on. Even with a very small 38 cm wide blade, that board was wanting to "turn over" like a longboard with too much centerboard.
I hope to get some pictures from Saturday&#39;s Demo with Hydrotherapy so others can see that the Serenity really isn&#39;t just a super light wind board.
Hope this helps,

Randy

20th March 2007, 06:56 PM

I&#39;d love to see the pictures. Looks like my wind magnet theory is holding up. 20 kt on a "light wind demo day"!:D